[Drug prescription in the postinfarction period; results of the EPPI II (Study of Postinfarct Prescription). A French cooperative study].

An enquiry into drug prescription of patients discharged from hospital after myocardial infarction was carried out in 27 French hospital departments and included 430 patients. Each patient was prescribed an average of 3.9 drugs. Aspirin was the most widely prescribed drug (79.3%); this was followed by the betablockers (67.4%), long acting nitrate derivatives (42.3%) and calcium antagonists (35.1%). These results, though an improvement compared with those of an enquiry carried out 3 years ago, suggest that much prescription in the post-infarction period is not consistent with our present knowledge.